News Corp. Going Carbon Neutral, Fox News Still Going Nuts

Rupert Murdoch, the CEO of the infamous News Corp. -- the multinational company that owns Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, the NY Post and more -- has made noise in the past about greening up his company's act. And now it's official: By the end of this year, News Corp. will be carbon neutral if things go according to plan. Yup, that means that the company that owns Fox News will be one of the greenest big companies in the world. Interesting. And so I pose the question: wouldn't the greener thing to do to yank your network's irresponsible, fact-less programming that confuses millions of Americans about climate change?I think so. Here's Kate Sheppard with the story:

In the Fox News universe, the world is definitely not warming. Quite the opposite: Climate change is "bunk," a spectacular hoax perpetrated on the rest of us by a cabal of corrupt scientists. But while embracing climate skepticism may be good for ratings, the execs at Fox News' parent company, News Corp., don't see it as good for the long-term bottom line. By the end of this year, News Corp. aims to go carbon neutral--meaning that the home of uber-global warming denialists like Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck may soon be one of the greener multinational corporations around.

Yes, even three years ago, Rupert Murdoch was openly declaring global climate change a "catastrophic threat". And he's mobilized his company to reduce carbon emissions through a number of initiatives. Read Sheppard's piece to see what that entailed -- I assure you it was a lot. By using advanced carbon management software, the company was able to slash emissions, and to go even further, News Corp is encouraging its networks to run PSAs about climate change, and working climate into entertainment programming as a theme.

And yet -- one of the most important changes has yet to come. In my mind, that would be upping the editorial standards on the corporation's most famous cable TV show. Hiring a fact checker or nine hundred for Fox for their climate reporting would probably do more in the long run to help stop climate change. Why?

Because probably the number one hurdle in the world to seriously addressing climate change is getting Americans to understand it. The world needs the US to pass serious climate legislation in order to show it's willing to take responsibility for its share of the problem -- we've historically produced the most emissions and contributed most to global warming, after all. And that's not going to happen unless the public -- especially conservatives -- start taking the problem seriously.

And that's not going to happen unless outlets like Fox News stop spreading misinformation on the subject.

Rupert Murdoch, the CEO of the infamous News Corp. -- the multinational company that owns Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, the NY Post and more -- has made noise in the past about greening up his company's act. And now